The Penn College commitment to host a memorial blood drive earlier this month with the American Red Cross truly made a difference. At the Sept. 4-5 tribute to Patrick M. Breen – a longtime General Services employee who died in June 2018 – faculty, staff and students registered 184 total donors, collected 168 pints of blood and recruited 65 first-time donors. “Our efforts have helped boost the community blood supply and ensure hospital patients have the lifesaving blood they need,” said Carl L. Shaner, director of college health services. “With our donation, over 500 patients in need of blood and blood products will benefit from our gift. Thank you, Penn College community, for your gift of time and support. The patients who have benefited from the blood drive are beyond grateful.” Shaner also thanked Joe’s Pizza for its generous donation of pizzas to the donors. The next Bloodmobile will be from noon to 6 p.m. Nov. 13-14 in Penn’s Inn (CC, second floor).
Pennsylvania College of Technology faculty detailed for nationwide peers an ongoing initiative to address the critical shortage of cybersecurity professionals.
Jacob R. Miller and Sandra Gorka, associate professors of computer science, presented “Improving the Pipeline” at the Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education in Las Vegas. Their talk summarized a paper they wrote with Alicia McNett, instructor of computer information technology, and Bradley M. Webb, assistant dean of industrial, computing and engineering technologies.
The annual colloquium brings together educators, business and industry leaders, and practitioners to share ideas, research and needs related to cybersecurity.
Stabley and Cillo showcase their work upon its completion in late spring.
The “Avenue of the Arts” mosaic in downtown Williamsport will be celebrated at a dedication and reception scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Firestone Building, 400 Market St. Commissioned by PublicArtWorks and intended as a gateway to Williamsport’s cultural community, the piece was created and installed by David A. Stabley, an instructor of ceramics and wood sculpture at Penn College, and Carol Cillo, president of the Clinton County Arts Council.
PCToday continues its regular feature – welcoming new full-time and regular part-time Pennsylvania College of Technology employees, as reported by the Human Resources Office.
Four Penn College sport and event management students spent the day getting to know the industry firsthand on Sept. 10. The group traveled to Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, to network with team executives.
Two of five $5,000 scholarships recently awarded by the Oil and Energy Service Professionals and its co-sponsors have gone to Pennsylvania College of Technology students.
The scholarships were presented to Peter W. Bennett, of Sea Cliff, New York, and Ian H. West, of Hummelstown. Bennett is enrolled in the two-year heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology major; West is working toward a bachelor’s degree in heating, ventilation and air conditioning design technology.
The financial assistance comes from the organization’s Dave Nelsen Scholarship Program, established in 1999 to memorialize an OESP member’s commitment to education.
The insights of a Penn College faculty member are included in a 16-page “Women in STEM” supplement inserted in 250,000 copies of Friday’s USA Today being distributed in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, northcentral Florida and Houston. Alicia McNett, assistant professor of computer information technology, is one of four industry success stories recruited for a panel Q&A (on Page 12) titled “We Ask the Experts How Women Can Break Into STEM.” The publication also includes a front-page ad (topped by a cover photo of Melinda Gates, who is profiled inside) directing readers to a webpage focused on the college’s passionate pioneers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: Women in STEM supplement
Christine L. Eckenrod has been appointed to lead the radiography program at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
Eckenrod began her work as director of radiography at Penn College on Sept. 3.
She brings to the position more than 30 years of experience in the medical imaging field. Before joining Penn College, she was the radiography program director at JFK Muhlenberg Snyder School of Radiography in New Jersey, where she also served as a radiography instructor.
Workforce Development at Pennsylvania College of Technology is offering a course to help high school students prepare for the standardized test used as an admissions tool by many institutions of higher learning.
The course will help students better prepare for success on the exam through live instruction, self-paced learning and individual interaction with a professional instructor. The focus will be on math, English and reading, with an optional writing session available for those who wish to practice their skills and review with a Penn College faculty member.
PCToday continues its regular feature – welcoming new full-time and regular part-time Pennsylvania College of Technology employees, as reported by the Human Resources Office.
A memorial service will be Monday for John K. Hammond – a member of the college faculty from 1967 until his 1998 retirement as professor (and department head) of automotive technology – who died Wednesday, Sept. 4. The service will be at 10 a.m. at Nisbet United Methodist Church, 155 W. Village Drive, South Williamsport. A full obituary was published in Saturday’s editions of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.
Stopping for a photo op at the Gold Rush Excavator are (from left) Everett, Gilmour, Cutler, Smeltz and Yaw.During his travels, Cutler enjoyed interactions with students who reside in or near his legislative district, including baking and pastry arts students Rebecca High (left), of Willow Street, and Alana L. LaPenta, of Lemoyne.In the manufacturing lab, Cutler learns about the mechanics of BAJA team racing from students including John D. Kleinfelter (center in red shirt), a manufacturing engineering student from Lebanon.The tour winds its way through the new welding expansion. Cutler’s late father was a welder, so he held a keen interest in the facility and the skill.Back to his roots, Cutler visits the radiography lab to hear about advances in technologies from Christine L. Eckenrod, the college’s new director of radiography.
State Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster), the second-highest ranking member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, visited Penn College on Thursday. Cutler, serving his first term as majority leader, was accompanied on the tour – which took in a number of instructional areas of main campus – by Jacob G. Smeltz, his chief of staff, as well as two members of the college’s board of directors: Sen. Gene Yaw, chair, and Rep. Garth Everett. President Davie Jane Gilmour and other members of the college administration (including Michael J. Reed, vice president for academic affairs and provost, and Patrick Marty, chief of staff) welcomed the guests, and various deans and faculty members led Cutler through The Victorian House, welding and metal fabrication, advanced manufacturing, automotive restoration, culinary arts and hospitality, plastics and polymer engineering, and several majors in the School of Nursing & Health Sciences. Cutler started his career in radiography, earning a certificate from Lancaster General School of Radiology. He worked as an X-ray technologist before earning a health care management degree from Lebanon Valley College and working as an administrator in his local hospital’s radiology department. He later earned a law degree, focused on health care law, from Widener Law School and has served in the Legislature since 2007. The day’s itinerary also included lunch at Le Jeune Chef Restaurant and a chance to see the Gold Rush Excavator on a nearby parking lot.
The corporate generosity that provides Pennsylvania College of Technology students with up-to-date tools befitting a campuswide pool of “tomorrow makers” lives on in an equipment loan from Volvo Construction Equipment, facilitated by Highway Equipment & Supply Co.
A Volvo EC220 excavator has been made available through the end of the Fall 2019 semester, and already has seen considerable use by students in the summer operations classes.
Roberta Schwenk, makerspace assistant, shows first-year students the versatile capabilities of a 3D printer.On hand to assist guests are (from left) welding instructor Timothy S. Turnbach; Thomas E. Ask, professor of industrial design; and Jeremiah C. Johnson, makerspace attendant.The face of ingenuityStudents work on personal projects in the collaborative space.Schwenk and Barbara J. Albert, director of the Children’s Learning Center – whose husband, Eric K., is an associate professor of machine tool technology – talk with a student among the evening’s attendees.
Students, faculty and staff attended a Tuesday open house at The Dr. Welch Workshop: A Makerspace at Penn College (Room 104 of the Carl Building Technologies Center), enjoying free food and refreshments and learning about all of the great things they can accomplish there. In addition to kicking off the facility’s second year, the event ushers in a full slate of weekly training sessions on a variety of interesting topics. Watch PCToday for weekly announcements of the Fall 2019 training sessions, to be held from 6-7 p.m. Thursdays through Nov. 21. Photos by Juvy A. Orillaza, student photographer
Eyewitness News reporter Morgan Parrish talked Tuesday with graphic design alumni and a faculty member involved in a suicide prevention campaign. Parrish interviewed Nicholas L. Stephenson, instructor of graphic design, as well as two of the recent graduates whose work was showcased as part of the awareness project: Emily R. Kahler, of Pittman, and Luke A. Bierly, of Centre Hall. The piece aired during WBRE/WYOU’s evening newscasts beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The Penn College commitment to host a memorial blood drive earlier this month with the American Red Cross truly made a difference. At the Sept. 4-5 tribute to Patrick M. Breen – a longtime General Services employee who died in June 2018 – faculty, staff and students registered 184 total donors, collected 168 pints of blood and recruited 65 first-time donors. “Our efforts have helped boost the community blood supply and ensure hospital patients have the lifesaving blood they need,” said Carl L. Shaner, director of college health services. “With our donation, over 500 patients in need of blood and blood products will benefit from our gift. Thank you, Penn College community, for your gift of time and support. The patients who have benefited from the blood drive are beyond grateful.” Shaner also thanked Joe’s Pizza for its generous donation of pizzas to the donors. The next Bloodmobile will be from noon to 6 p.m. Nov. 13-14 in Penn’s Inn (CC, second floor).
